Trump Takes Early Vote Lead in New Hampshire

DIXVILLE NOTCH, NH — Expect the election to be a nail biter today. The first ballots of the 2016 presidential election have been cast and counted in New Hampshire in the tiny towns of Dixville Notch, Hart's Location, and Millsfield, which all celebrate midnight voting in New Hampshire.

And after the early voting, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a 32 to 25 vote lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to results. Libertarian Gary Johnson has four votes. Bernie Sanders received three write-in votes while Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, also received a write-in vote. One voter cast a ballot for Kasich-Sanders, according to reports on Twitter.

This year, there were eight voters casting ballots in Dixville Notch – including a new voter that registered to vote this morning for the first time. After the ballots were counted, Clinton received four votes, Trump received two votes, and Johnson received a single. Back in February, Dixville Notch cast the first ballots for the first-in-the-nation primary and at that time, Clinton did not receive a single vote, according to press reports. Gov. John Kasich, R-OH, received three votes while Trump received two. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, received four votes during the primary.

In the governor’s race, Republican Chris Sununu received six votes in Dixville Notch and Colin Van Ostern, the Democrat, received two, so there were obviously some ticket splitters this morning. Sununu also went to Dixville Notch to visit with voters, according to posts on Twitter.

What a thrill to have been part of such a great NH tradition. #nhpolitics pic.twitter.com/S1b1JrYLD8
— Chris Sununu (@ChrisSununu) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/ChrisSunun... 8, 2016

In the Senate race, both U.S. Rep. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, and Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, each received four votes and in the 2nd Congressional District race, both U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-NH, and Republican challenger Jim Lawrence received four votes each, too.

In Hart's Location, according to reports on Twitter, Clinton received 17 votes and Trump received 14. In Millsfield, Trump received 16 votes and Clinton four. View the full results from Millsfield on the town's Facebook page.

Tabulations from all three communities gave Ayotte a 20 to seven vote lead over Hassan, and independent Aaron Day with 2 votes. Sununu led Van Ostern with a 24 to 5 vote lead, according to tabulations by Decision Desk HQ on Twitter. Lawrence leads Kuster 20 to 8 with John Babiarz receiving two votes.

#DixvilleVoted pic.twitter.com/LkEgNnYnl0
— Dixville Vote (@DixvilleVote) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/DixvilleVo... 8, 2016

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